Books, Butterflies & Blooms

Team up with your local public library to photograph plants, animals, fungi and more! Beginners welcome. Help us survey biodiversity across this vast and beautiful country.

What’s the problem?

Canada is so vast that 90% of the country’s biodiversity remains poorly studied. Without a clear understanding of which species live where, we cannot detect when they disappear. Species extinctions could have far-reaching consequences for our natural resources, food security, and the health of our ecosystems. For example, butterflies are important pollinators of flowers. Help scientists and conservation biologists by signing up for iNaturalist and uploading as many observations of plants, animals, fungi (and more!) as you can.

How do I get started??

We are collaborating with public libraries across Canada to help people get started. Your public library should have access to iNaturalist help guides as well as guides to help you learn about plants, animals, and more. If your local library doesn’t know about this activity, contact us and we will email materials to them. Libraries associated with the most observations will win prizes. Fill in [THIS SHORT FORM] so that we know which library ‘team’ to link your observations to.

Where should you go?

Use the map below to help search for your closest library. Contact us if your closest library is not listed and we will add it to the map.

Public libraries in Canada

Where should you go to take pictures?

Anywhere safe and interesting to you! Don’t forget to tell us which library team you are joining (see How do I get Started)

How do we use the observations?

We use the data to help figure out where different species are found in Canada. Observations from rural or remote locations are particularly valuable because a lot less is known about the biodiversity of these locations.

Who created this challenge?

This challenge was created for Blitz the Gap and designed by Michelle Tseng, Eniola Olu-Ayorinde and Diane Srivastava. Eniola Olu-Ayorinde is a graduate student in quantitative ecology at the University of Regina. Michelle Tseng and Diane Srivastava are ecology professors at the University of British Columbia.